The invention relates to a superconducting current-limiter device of the resistive type, whose conductor track is formed by a superconductor in the form of a strip, whose oxidic high-Tc superconductor material of the AB2Cu3Ox type is applied to a substrate strip composed of a normally conductive substrate metal, with A being at least one rare earth metal including yttrium, and B being at least one alkaline earth metal. In this case, the conductor track is in the form of a bifilar coil, with a distance through which a coolant can flow being maintained between adjacent coil turns. A corresponding current-limiter device is disclosed in EP 0 503 448 A2.
Superconducting metal-oxide compounds with high critical temperatures Tc of above 77 K have been known since 1986, which are therefore referred to as high-Tc superconductor materials, or HTS materials, and, in particular, allow a liquid-nitrogen (LN2) cooling technique. Metal-oxide compounds such as these include in particular cuprates based on specific substance systems, for example of the AB2Cu3Ox type, with A being at least one rare earth metal including yttrium, and B being at least one alkaline earth metal. The main representative of this substance system of the so-called 1-2-3-HTS type is so-called YBCO (Y1Ba2Cu3Ox where 6.5≦x≦7).
The aim is to deposit this known HTS material on different substrates for different purposes, in which case the general aim is to achieve a superconductor material with as high a phase purity as possible. In particular, metallic substrates are therefore provided for conductor applications (see, for example, EP 0 292 959 A1).
In the case of the current-limiter device which is disclosed in the EP-A2 document cited initially, a type of superconductor in the form of a strip, inter alia, is used and has a substrate which is provided with a coating composed of the HTS material. In order to form the current-limiter device, this conductor can be wound as a bifilar coil, with a spacer in the form of strip in each case being arranged for the construction process between two successive conductor sections or coil turns. This bifilar coil should then be held on a base plate which is porous or is provided with a large number of holes. Once the coil has been mounted on this base plate, the spacers arranged between the conductor sections are finally removed again. The distance between the individual coil turns and the porosity of the base plate thus result in flow paths between the coil turns for a coolant for cooling the superconducting material.